NBA 2015-16: Top 5 regular season MVP candidates

#1 MVP Stephen Curry – Golden State Warriors

Stephen Curry

Season Averages: 29.9 points, 6.7 assists, 5.5 rebounds, 50.2% FG%, 45.2% 3P FG%, and 90.6% FT%

Player Efficiency Rating (PER): 31.26 (league best)

With the kind of season Stephen Curry has had, the MVP voting is more about whether Curry could be the league’s first unanimous MVP or not? Shaquille O’Neal in 1999-00 and LeBron James in 2012-13 came agonizingly close, securing 120 of the 121 possible votes.

Being the league’s first unanimous MVP would be a fitting honor to Curry’s regular season. Halfway through December, many were certain Curry had already run away with the MVP award.

He leads the league scoring with his 29.9 points average. He has 402 three-pointers to his name this season, 104 more than the previous NBA record (his own) of 286. He has a PER of 31.26, seventh best in league history and only behind Wilt Chamberlain (3), Michael Jordan (2) and LeBron James (1).

His shooting percentage puts him in the elite 50-40-90 club for the first time alongside greats like Larry Bird, Mark Price, Steve Nash, Reggie Miller, Dirk Nowitzki and Kevin Durant.

Curry’s leap after an MVP season last year, makes the Warriors hot favorites to win the title. His incredibly improved three point shooting helps the team use it as a decoy to get other players going. His pick and roll action with Draymond Green is almost unstoppable.

Once again, it’s very very safe to say that Curry has got this one in the bag. It’s all about whether he can bag the first place votes from all 121 ballots.

If he does get named MVP, he will be the 11th player to be handed the Maurice Podoloff trophy in back to back seasons. Only Larry Bird, Wilt Chamberlain and Bill Russell have won it three seasons in a row.